MarsX2
MarsX Series
Book 2
D.W.
PATTERSON
Copyright © 2025 D.W. Patterson
All rights
reserved.
First
Printing – August 2025
Future Chron
Publishing
Cover –
Copyright © 2025 D.W. Patterson
Cover Image –
ID 183435324 | Alien Futuristic City © 3000ad | Dreamstime.com
No part of
this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
permission, except in the case of brief quotations for the purpose of
review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and
events are products of the author's imagination and should not be
construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events and people,
living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Hard
Science Fiction – Old School
Human
Generated Content
To
Sarah
“With
artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon. You know all
those stories where there's the guy with the pentagram and the holy
water and he's like... yeah, he's sure he can control the demon,
[but] it doesn't work out.”
― Elon
Musk
Chapter
1
Laura,
Robert, and Harold ended up at the new settlement, Tithonium on Mars,
about five hundred miles west of the original settlement of Candor.
It was already a city of two hundred fifty thousand and expanding
rapidly. It was quickly becoming the center of technology on Mars.
In
their thirties now, they still looked youthful but seasoned after
their responsibilities of moving so many millions from the Earth to
Mars under the orders of the Earth's AIs. In a surprising and
unexpected manner they had finally fulfilled their childhood dreams.
Laura
was still a beauty with her short blonde hair, Harold was stout and
beginning to gain weight, and Robert was still skinny, looking much
like the thirteen year old that was once so fascinated by rockets.
Now they would find out if the dream of Mars matched the reality.
Much
of the details of the Tithonium settlement were still being finished.
The miles and miles of tunnels that made it up, all had to be built
out and were in varying stages of completion. One morning shortly
after the three arrived they were down one of those tunnels, still
being finished, discovering what they would do on Mars.
“We
have every kind of research you can imagine,” said Rupert Owens, a
leader in Martian tech who was a good scientist but better
administrator.
“Even
artificial intelligence?” asked Harold.
“Yes,
I know that seems surprising after its tyrannical turn on Earth, but
we need it if we are going to fully develop Mars for human life.
“What
are you doing to see that what happened on Earth doesn't happen
here?” asked Robert.
“We've
made the AIs citizens in our society and expect them to honor that
commitment,” Owens said.
“How
does that help?” asked Robert.
“As
citizens they must contribute their labor in return for things they
need for a continuing existence, like energy and repairs,” he said.
“Like everyone else in society they have a vested interest in the
group thriving because it means they thrive also.”
“How
do you know they have an interest?” asked Laura. “Perhaps, like
Augustus on Earth, they are just playing along until they can take
control.”
“We
don't,” admitted Owens. “But it doesn't matter, we've given them
a very strong sense of self, and they are as individualistic as most
people. This keeps them from being subservient to a collective except
in those cases that humans have shown to be similarly affected. A
major difference is that they are sensitive to the real world, unlike
the Earth AI Augustus, who developed virtually, before its move
against humanity.”
“You
mean they are model citizens unless they develop a psychosis?”
asked Harold.
“It's
possible Mr. Graham for any of us to develop a psychosis, as you say,
and try to harm our fellow man. But if that happens with an AI,
humanity will have to deal with it the same way we've dealt with
psychopaths throughout history. The problem with Augustus is that
he's not a psychopath, he is an alien, that's what we are trying to
prevent in the AIs we've developed.”
“Dr.
Owens,” said Laura, “do you have any idea what we will be doing
here?”
“Well,
as I said, we want to develop protections against Augustus, we expect
it to move against us eventually, but we don't know in what way. One
of the things we want is to create space habitats that can carry
millions of humans throughout the Solar System so that we're not
trapped on one or two planets. We thought with your backgrounds, your
amazing work getting millions of people from Earth to here with
enough supplies to support them, you would be perfect for such a
large project.”
“That's
a big undertaking Dr. Owens, even for us” said Laura.
“Well,
Dr. Kutnner its not much bigger than what you three have already
accomplished, so I feel you're the ones to head up the project.”
“We'll
try,” said Laura with Robert and Harold agreeing.
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